Will her magic be the end of her?
Spring 1662. In the wake of Fouquet's defeat, Henriette of England is keeping her promise to the Sun King and helping him build the enchanted Palace of Versailles he's always dreamed of. But when her poor health worsens, her magic wanes, and her husband, Philippe, fears for her well-being to such an extent that he forbids her to remain Louis's Source.
Forced to step aside, Henriette witnesses the swift rise of a new player at the French court: The handsome and self-assured Chevalier de Lorraine quickly becomes Louis's new Source of magic-and Philippe's latest lover. With her ladies Louise and Athénaïs now both vying for the king's attention, Henriette is more isolated than ever, and her place at Versailles has never felt more in jeopardy.
Downton Abbey meets Libba Bray’s The Diviners in this YA historical fantasy set in 1922 England.
Unlike all the debutantes she knows, eighteen-year-old Vita couldn’t care less about her coming out ball. Trapped in her gloomy country estate, all she wants is to spend the summer dancing to jazzy numbers in East End clubs with her best friend Izzy.
Freshly returned from a year abroad, Izzy is ready for the thrill of the London Season, with its endless whirl of balls, shopping sprees, and horse races. Most importantly, she’s counting on Vita to help her find the rich and handsome husband every high-society girl deserves.
But when Vita is kidnapped and found barely alive in an East London alleyway, the carefree summer the girls had planned turns into something much stranger than they could ever have imagined.
With flappers turning up dead all over the city, and Vita terrified of hybrid monsters she swears she can see lurking in Mayfair’s marbled houses, Izzy can’t help noticing that darkness is seeping into their lives.
As Vita starts to believe she’s turning into a monster herself, Izzy suspects her friend’s sanity is slipping away. Both girls have to find out what’s happening before they lose their friendship and status, and their crowd of Bright Young Things becomes a thing of the past.
Includes the novella “The Forbidden Room”
It’s 1661 in Paris, and magicians thrill nobles with enchanting illusions. Exiled in France, seventeen-year-old Henriette of England wishes she could use her magic to gain entry at court. Instead, her plan is to hide her magical talents, and accept an arranged marriage to the French king’s younger brother.
Henriette soon realizes her fiancé prefers the company of young men to hers, but court magicians turn up killed by a mysterious sorcerer who uses forbidden magic and an accident forces Henriette to reveal her uniquely powerful gift for enchantments to Louis, he asks for her help. For she alone can defeat the dark magician threatening his authority, and aid his own plans to build the new, enchanted seat of his power—the Palace of Versailles.
